Laser Decontamination of Dental Implants

An esthetic and functional implant supported restoration in the esthetic zone is a clinical challenge. The correct three dimensional positioning of the implant in the apico-coronal, mesio-distal and bucco-lingual dimensions and proper management of the peri-implant soft tissue is required to achieve the desired emergence profile. Various surgical and restorative techniques have been employed for achieving ideal soft tissue contours. This article describes an easy convenient method of customizing impression posts to prevent soft tissue collapse or distension of the gingival cuff during the impression procedure and accurately recording and transferring the soft tissue situation onto the master cast.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficiency of an Er,Cr:YSGG laser to remove the biofilm of the contaminated implant surfaces and to examine the possible alterations on the surface structure after laser irradiation.

Although the connective tissue graft continues to be regarded as the gold standard treatment for gingival recession defects, the need for a secondary harvest surgery along with limited tissue availability continue to encourage the search for alternative methods of treatment. The current consecutive 24-patient case series examines one such material. Mucograft® collagen matrix is a porcine derived, double layer natural material recently evaluated for treatment effectiveness for a number of soft tissue deficiencies, including gingival recession defects. In the present retrospective study, isolated and contiguous Miller Class I and II recession defects were treated with Mucograft® collagen matrix. At the end of six months multiple parameters, including percent root coverage and linear root coverage gain, were examined. The results of this study suggest that Mucograft® may be a viable alternative to CT grafts when treating Miller Class I and II recession defects.